P200,000 set for MP heirloom rice tillers

By Juliet B. Saley

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- The provincial government has allotted P200,000 to procure heirloom rice from farmers in the province particularly heirloom rice producers,

According to Jovita Camso of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist and also the Heirloom Rice coordinator here, the P200,000 was used to buy heirloom rice at an export price of P60-P80 per kilo.

Some of the rice were sold to the provincial government employees at a subsidized price of P50-P60 per kilo while the remaining rice will be sold during the agro-industrial trade fair of the 2012 Lang-ay Festival on April.

Camso said there are 100 farmers producing heirloom rice who organized themselves and formed the Provincial Rice Terraces Farmers Cooperative where they will bring together their palay for processing.

The province was given a customized rice mill machine which was provided by the revitalized Indigenous Cordilleras Entrepreneur (RICE) Inc. and the Department of Agriculture- Cordillera Regional Office.

Camso said the cooperative which is composed of 100 farmers coming from the municipalities of Barlig, Bauko, Natonin, Sadanga and Tadian started exporting heirloom rice in 2008.

For 2008 to 2011, farmers exported 15.4 tons of heirloom rice with a total sales of P980,668.67 which were bought by the 8th Wonder Corporation, Montana, USA through the RICE Inc.

Camso said farmers who are interested to join this group are advised first to observe three consecutive years of farming without using chemical inputs and instead use organic inputs.